Matt's Montreal Mania (reports and photos) Now with a smoking Safin photo!

I'm not as photo-crazy as before I only took a dozen photos, mostly of me and players haha
But today it's hard to report much. Nadal and Federer practiced, but the crowds were too big so I didn't bother watching.
Interesting:Levine was quite in a bad mood in the first part of his match, questioning all line calls, as if the world was against him He got his grip together though and sailed through with his determination.

Llodra's match was also interesting. At 5-7 *5-4 deuce, he misses a shot so it's BP. He yells out 'putain' (roughly french equivalent of the f word) and then perhaps mutters something. A line's judge runs up to umpire to say something as Llodra gets ready to serve at BP, and then he calls over Llodra, and there's a big debacle. Apparently he might've sworn again, or something and the tournament supervisor was called. Llodra was so angry, arguing to the bone with the umpire. Then the chair umpire called "Llodra - point penalty - obscenity." so it was 5-5.
Had he not won the set in a tiebreaker he would've been quite mad indeed. But Chudinelli suffered in this one, because he was not the same afterward in the match.

That's about all of note that will interest people. But I must mention:
Youzhny and Melzer both took photos with me, they were really nice about it too. Melzer is so sweet, he signed for people while on the phone!
Aspelin and Hanley practiced for a while together too, and also took photos with me. I was kind of quirky on the photos (you'll see) and they laughed at me - they were really smiling on the photos which makes me really happy, because it didn't seem forced. Hanley recognized me from facebook he said, "Hey, how are ya mate?" (God, I love the Aussie accent.)

I really glad to get these poses with the players They're all such nice people!

Well, I'm absolutely exhausted now, off to bed early tonight I think Big week ahead of me.
and I can't wait for the doubles - ALL the matches look good! Especially looking forward to Aspelin/Hanley vs. Lopez/Verdasco, what a match-up! Sad it's first round but it's going to be wonderfully amazing.

Today, I had a chance to see De Chaunac play Hernych. Hernych was playing super well, hitting a lot of winners, whereas De Chaunac was spraying a little bit. But it was an overall quality affair, I was really impressed with Hernych - I knew his name, but nothing about his game, but he has game! (Or at least he did today!)
Then I went in for Benneteau/Lapentti . At 5-0, I figured this would be a rollover, so I left at 5-2 (only to come back later and find it had become 6-7 ) The end of the match saw Lapentti make a few errors that pushed him over the edge, which is a shame because he had been playing well from what I saw.

I saw Ram practice with Mirnyi; Mirnyi still a class act, and Ram grew on me a lot today. He has a lot of charm, he smiles a lot when he plays - you can tell he has a passion for our sport. They were doing doubles drills which I LOVE about having the men come here - women never do the drills (except, say, Black/Huber). Fun to watch.
I also saw Aspelin/Hanley practice against Coetzee/Melo (or at least I thought it was Coetzee, he isn't in the draw so ??) which was entertaining. It was a basic doubles warm-up. But I can watch Aspelin/Hanley play for hours, I just love their game.
In front of them was Youzhny and Andreev playing a practice match. The area was quite crowded (as these two courts don't have a lot of observation room) because Nadal was going to practice there. So I skidaddled quickly. Federer was also going to practice nearby, and the crowds are just so large (I get agoraphobic, a little bit, so I stay away from Roger and Rafa because I've seen them before luckily)Marat Safin was practicing with Garcia-Lopez, near a court where Mathieu/Serra were practicing. Garcia's got more game than I imagined from what I heard, he really grew on me today and I'm hoping he can do well here. Safin is what he is: amazing to watch. The area is also small-ish around where he was practicing, so the crowd was quite large. A girl said during a rally: "Marat, we love you, muah muah!" He just kind of snickered as if to say "WTF?"
I waited out with my friend to get a photo with Safin; I know he's retiring this year so it was my last chance. He stayed chatting with Garcia for a little while; Garcia came out, and then Safin. There was tons of people, and he was signing for people but making his way out quickly you could see So I ask him "Hey, Marat, can I have a picture with you?" so he says, in his accent, "Too many people here, we cannot take photo!" I was disappointed, but remembered his sister saying the same thing to me last year Like brother, like sister?
So I'm walking down the way with my friend unconsciously following him, and see there's NO one around him. So I ran after him, and said, "Marat! Marat! There's not lots of people here now, can we have the photo??" So he said "Sure sure but fast fast!!!!" And as we were taking the photo we was kind of backing away But it's still a great photo he's so lovable!! One of my greatest memories of Parc Jarry probably

Also saw Dodig/Ferrero which was good quality. Dodig has a big serve, nice strokes, but hurt his wrist. Which was too bad. But Ferrero still had the upper hand on most rallies, the longer they went.

And saw the best match, Raonic/Llodra! How amazing Raonic's serve is just massive. But today, admittedly, Llodra was not on top of his game. He made a lot of stupid mistakes, and I think expected Raonic to roll over and let him win. But Milos' big serve didn't allow much room for that. I like Milos; calm on court, not a showboat, doesn't get too over the top about winning. He signed autographs for just about everybody on court, and everyone waiting outside. We were sitting near his mom who was just so adorable when he won

Re: Matt's Montreal Mania (reports and photos) Now with a smoking Safin photo!

Koolman: I want to but I don't have center court tickets for any day this week except Tuesday morning. Hopefully though, as a second night court match, I can ask some people leaving to hand me their tickets.

Re: Matt's Montreal Mania (reports and photos) Now with a smoking Safin photo!

Today was also a wonderful day
It was drizzling this morning, so I was scared the start would be delayed. But it wasn't, thank God, and the day went on without much rain at all - overcast, which is great to watch tennis

We started off watching Tursunov/Andreev which was good tennis. But poor Dmitry, he really seemed unfocused, and not into the match due to his injury. He's such a witty guy though, a ballboy slid on the court and fell at one point getting a ball, and when the ballboy when to reach for another ball he said "Careful now" He was chuckling and smiling a lot. A ball of his was called out and he said "Really? By how much?" the chair said "An inch maybe" He said "Really? Really? I do that all the time in practice and it's okay", everyone on court was laughing Felt sorry he had to retire, it was aiming to be a good match.

Next I watched Bhupathi/Knowles practice with Ullyett/Soares. Bhupathi swore a few times on missed shots, I was surprised! And Knowles was really not happy with his performance, he threw his racket over the park fence and it landed outside the park. A city worker was like what's a racket doing out here??? It was quite funny. The worker threw it back into the park

I spent a bit of time watching Nadal and Verdasco practice together; I waited first in line to get a photo but got tired of waiting when the practice extended to two hours so I left. I saw Aspelin/Hanley practice again, and got them to sign up the photos I posed with them, blown up They were super sweet, they signed at good spots on the photo and signed well (you can tell it's their autograph in other words.)

I also got a glimpse of Llodra/Tsonga vs. Robredo/Ferrer - the second set and tiebreaker. It was a good match, but overall, Tsonga made too many mistakes in the breaker. Robredo is quite an impressive doubles player, I was really surprised! He's got good returns! Should give Daniel & Nenad a run for their money.

I saw the second and third sets of Lu/Chardy. Lu was more impressive than I thought, I was sure he'd be a pusher but he actually has good strokes. Needs to work on his serve a bit though. Chardy has a BIG game, and I love his BIG game I was shouting Allez Jeremy the entire time, people we're looking at me oddly. And my friend was shouting Jia You to Lu, so we were drawing a lot of pairs of eyes I was really into this match though. Lu threw it away in the last game, though, making 4 mistakes Chardy posed with me after his match, although looking half-dead (understandably, big day!!)

I then saw Nadal/Roig vs. Djokovic/Vemic. The old man's not bad ! I felt sorry for Vemic though, seeing as how he's a doubles specialist. They all played really well, the crowd was really into it (and what a crowd! It was amazing how many people were drawn into this match, amazing) I thoroughly enjoyed this display of tennis A man kept yelling "Vamos Francisco!" every time he made a point haha.
During this match, I ran out to catch the end of Safin's practice. I was SO incredibly lucky to leave right when I did, because he ended his practice a little bit early, and I caught him right as he left. He signed the blown-up printout photo of him and I, and he was sweet in signing it; he looked at it for a second, paused, figuring out where to sign, and signed in the BEST spot, and well (you can tell it's his signature!) I was really overjoyed that he got to sign it , now that he'll never be in Montreal again

We went home after, because tomorrow will be a big day and my mother didn't particularly want to watch Querrey or Zverev. More tomorrow!

Re: Matt's Montreal Mania (reports and photos) Now with a smoking Safin photo!

Sorry, didn't get to it - other stuff going on
Today, the first match was Davydenko/Mathieu. It was very good - they were of even caliber today. It was quite entertaining. Not much more to say haha, I left after a set... (I'm so exhausted at the moment )
I then ran to see the end of Melzer/Hanescu. Poor Jurgen looked absolutely crushed... but it was close in the last game. Hanescu just has a really big game, or at least he seemed to today. Jurgen sat in his chair for almost six minutes before vacating, he looked devastated truly.
I then ran to the end of Robredo/Bogdo. Tommy's game is just so seamless, I love watching him! Boredo? Not at all. He hits well, deep, consistent but can turn to attack easy. Bogdo asked the umpire about a close call, she said she didn't see it - he said "well, you know you haven't overruled all match long" (it was the last game) She answered "I'm well aware of that fact" The exchange was quite witty. I managed to run after Tommy and get a photo with him, he's super sweet on it
I watched Verdasco/Lopez for a while after that. Poor Feliciano seemed to not be able to overpower his friend today, except in the second set. The rain falling during the tiebreaker was quite dramatic I must say Lopez's facial expressions just kill me, I adore watching him. After the rain delay, he just lost two critical break points. He went off to wait in the cart to be taken off, but the players were waiting for Fernando (who was signing autographs and being interviewed) so Feli got pissed. "Why should I have to wait for him?" He was let go with apologies, poor guy. Fernando must've signed and posed for hundreds of people, too bad I was on the wrong side
I was going to watch Haas/Karlovic but I got agoraphobic. The stands are too mashed together, there were too many people, so I went to watch Ferrer/Troicki instead. Viktor just couldn't string it together today, he was clearly frustrated as well. David was as intense as ever, and I predict he will stumble Rafa big time tomorrow night. David was very fan-friendly after the match, and I got a wonderful photo with him Vamos David =)
Then it was time for the match I was waiting for all day (well actually, all the matches today I was greatly anticipating!) Nadal/Roig vs. Ram/Mirnyi - great great great. The crowd was immense once again (well over 5000, past capacity) and the tennis was good quality. Roig's net game is good enough, and Nadal was good at the baseline. Ram/Mirnyi were surprised at the level of Roig, I think - they aimed mostly at him but he came up with lots of clutch shots. Mirnyi's serve held up, and all in all it was a great match. The crowd was really into it, as well. I was torn between running to the player exit to get a Nadal photo, or watching the tiebreaker... the doubles fan in me stayed to see the wonderful tennis (which it was). But then I was in the second row of the fans, and I didn't get my photo with Rafa - had I gone in the first row I would have (sigh!). Mirnyi/Ram didn't sign any autographs, poor guys I would've asked too had they offered (I was quite verbal in this match supporting them )
Then it was Gonzalez/Raonic. This was just amazing. We couldn't leave, the crowd was intense (especially the Chileans... oye, the crowd was cheering them both on at some times) and I was in the first row My lungs are empty right now from cheering Millos on. He just has a seamless game - his backhand is iffy at times, but the forehand is huge, and the serve comes through. But most of all; he doesn't waste energy on needless celebrations, he focuses on each and every point, and he stays level. He doesn't get upset ever. It was quite something. His mother was really into it too, getting the crowd to cheer, got to love that! Gonzalez was the character that he is, and added to the wonderful quality of the match.

I quite enjoyed today ~ It was a fine display of tennis from everyone on the grounds, and I can't wait for tomorrow. Finally I get to see what I was waiting for since Friday: Lopez/Verdasco vs. Aspelin/Hanley